The 15-Minute Book Club

Week 7: Cobalt Red

This week's book is Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara. Kara travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the heart of the cobalt mining communities where unimaginable atrocities are happening on a daily-basis in the process of mining for cobalt, a vital element in the manufacturing of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. He gives first hand accounts of those being exploited by the cobalt mining industry. This is the very bottom of the manufacturing chain that makes it possible for all of us to use our phones, laptops, tablets and electric cars.
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Interview with author on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1914-siddharth-kara/id360084272?i=1000644538881 
 
Interview with John Bernthal on Joe Rogan: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1916-jon-bernthal/id360084272?i=1000644538935 

May 2024 - In Conversation With My Brilliant Friend Jeni

Join me and my friend Jeni in a conversation about books we’ve read, loved and hated. We talk about motherhood and the social and neurological changes that come with it; audio books and why many of us think of it as cheating; the controversy surrounding support for non-offending pedophiles and so much more!
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Books mentioned in this episode:
Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg
Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
Stolen focus by Johan Hare
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Matrescence by Lucy Jones
Magma by Thora Hjörleifsdóttir
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
How not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger and Gene Stone
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Confessions of a Sociopath by M. E. Thomas
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
The Lone Ranger and Toto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
Intimacies by Lucy Caldwell
Hurrah for Gin by Katie Kirby
 
Films/shows mentioned in this episode:
Peaky Blinders Seasons 5 and 6
Killers of the Flower Moon
Baby Ruby
Dances with Wolves
The Idea of You
Reservation Dogs
Abbot Elementary
Avengers: End Game
Song of the Sea
Dances with Wolves
 
Other materials:
Trevor Noah the difficulty of raising children without a support system: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3IOpompIXNkFUVUKRyvwYB
Podcast on Diana Mosley: https://wondery.com/shows/british-scandal/season/40/
This American Life interview with New York Rats: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/801/transcript
Oprah and Paulo Coelho on the popularity growth of The Alchemist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_SAHuua15U
Vice News on non-offending pedophiles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yWklRbXDOY
Columbine shooter’s mother’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXlnrFpCu0c&t=266s
A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers review episode: https://salmaintb.podbean.com/e/week-1-a-concise-chinese-english-dictionary-for-lovers/

Week 6: Homegoing

This week's book is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, another historical fiction novel. The story spans 300 years, alternating between Ghana and the United States in the midst of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and leading up to modern times. It's a tale of inherited trauma and its evolution across multiple generations of persecution. 
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
The Guardian Books Podcast: https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/books 
 
Yaa Gyasi on The Guardian Books Podcast: https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2017/feb/17/reclaiming-history-yaa-gyasi-chibundu-onuzo-books-podcast

Week 5: The Red Tent

This week's book is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. A historical fiction novel that reimagines the life of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob. In The Bible, Dinah is very briefly mentioned in relation to the tragic loss of her husband at the hands of her brothers. In Diamant's novel, the Gods still have plans for Dinah who lives a long life beyond the tragedy. One of my all time favourite novels, it is a captivating tribute to womanhood.
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Book mentioned in this episode: Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
When my masters thesis becomes available in the public domain, I will post a link to it here :)

Week 4: Stolen Focus

This week's non-fiction book is Stolen Focus by Johan Hari. In my personal opinion, it is one of the most important books of the decade. We should all read this one.
Hari explores our collective inability to pay attention, and why this has increased over the last ten years. He interviews a number of experts to find out how and why our phones have been designed to keep us distracted. Is this something we are doing to ourselves, or is this being done to us?
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Johan Hari's interview with Oprah Winfrey:
Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-1/id1264843400?i=1000555669267
Part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-2/id1264843400?i=1000555669244 
 
Johan Hari's other books:
On depression: Lost Connections
On addiction: Chasing the Scream
 
Other book mentioned in this episode: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.
 
Johan's conversation with Nir Eyal (chapter 8): https://stolenfocusbook.com/audio/  

Week 3: Prophet Song

This week's book is the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
As Ireland slowly succumbs to a devastating civil war, Eilish refuses to leave. With her husband abducted by Ireland's secret police, she is on her own trying to keep her family together. As everything around her falls apart, she realises that the end of the world is not a grand world-wide finale, it's a localised event that happens over and over all the time.
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Article on how power affects the brain, by The British Psychological Society: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/how-power-affects-brain 

Week 2: Flowers for Algernon

This week's book is the classic science fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
Charlie Gordon's life is changed by a group of scientists that develop a treatment that can help increase his IQ, but what happens once Charlie becomes aware enough to see things as they are? Is ignorance truly bliss?
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub

Week 1: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

This week's book: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo. 
Zhuang's life is forever changed after she spends a year abroad in England. She falls in love, travels around Europe, expands her cultural horizons, and learns what true loneliness means. Narrated as journal entries, we watch her struggle to navigate and make sense of a foreign language, as well as a foreign lover. 
 
Instagram:
15minbookclub
 
Interview with Xiaolu Guo: https://podcasts.apple.com/jo/podcast/world-book-club/id263658343?i=1000633622386
My research paper on Confronting Persistent Errors in the ESOL Classroom:
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/natecla/esol/2024/00000035/00000001/art00007